Summarized from a consultation originally recorded on July 16th, 2024.
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Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: If you're building up to the four steps, I usually say start with the cleanser and the oil as the first two steps, My preference would be that we start with the four, but if you are on a budget or want to start slow, a cleanser and facial oil is the way to start! They work pretty synergistically and all are supporting the skin in different ways. So let's start at the top here. Your cleansing step is of course The step you're doing both in the morning and in the evening to prep skin To remove either makeup or if you're washing your face in the morning to kind of remove What's been released overnight? When you slip into a REM cycle, your skin naturally goes into this rest and repair. So a lot of times what will happen is pores will expand a little bit and there's a little bit of a release. And so making sure to bare minimum rinse the skin, if not a full cleanse in the morning is also pretty ideal here.So before I cleansers, let me mention the differences between these two lines. This tan label is called our Signature Collection. This black label is called our Wild Alchemy Collection.
Our Signature Collection includes a lot of our foundational products. It includes products that are helpful for aging skin, normal to dry, oily, like there's a pretty wide array of skin types that we'll use products from the Signature Collection. Now the Wild Alchemy, this collection, tends to include, first of all, more exotic ingredients. So we're sourcing ingredients further away or more tropical places. It will also include a more laborious craft process. It might be using a hydrosol or copper infused water or something that might have to steep or soak or evolve a little bit before it's included in the final blend. But one of the key differences with the Wild Alchemy Collection is, generally speaking, this line is kind of target focused for signs of aging. Now that's not to say that the Signature Collection is not, there are products that are, but this entire collection, one of its primary focuses is addressing signs of aging, and it tends to be a pretty broad array of signs of aging that are addressed by the Wild Alchemy Collection. I wanted to just name that there are two different lines, and you'll see the different labels and they can be used interchangeably, so if you have some signature products and some wild alchemy, you can mix and match. It doesn't have to be just one or the other. So, with that, let's talk about our cleansers.
Now, the first one I want to talk about is this one here. This is our Aloe Herb Cleanser. And, if you have tried the Clean Beauty Trial Kit this is the one you've tried. It's a very tried and true kind of classic cleanser. The consistency is really soft, very smooth. It feels almost like a light lotion. There's a little bit of this, like, kind of gel edge to it with the aloe in it. But it feels pretty smooth. It doesn't bubble up or suds up. So none of our cleansers are going to have any bubbling effect. We don't use any surfactants, not even a sugar derived surfactant. So, no bubbling here. But what happens when water is combined with aloe vera is there's this natural saponification and so it almost feels a little bit soapy on the skin. Now the blend of this one is awesome for dry skin. It's awesome for aging skin. It's also super supportive for sensitive prone skin. So skin that is either rash prone, reaction prone, temporary redness any sort of issue where you might have a flare up, specifically like a red or irritated flare up. The aloe herb cleanser, generally speaking, is pretty supportive for the herbs in this are helpful to soothe. That skin soothes irritated skin. The scent of this one is really light. It smells a lot kind of like citrus. There's a lemon, lemon balm kind of herbal scent to it. Yeah, it's pretty comfy. It's not too polarizing, that one. And again, dry skin, aging skin normal to dry. So if you're kind of in between, or your combo, you can use this one or sensitive prone skin, really like the Aloe Herb Cleanser.
Now the next one is this one. This is Wild Alchemy here. This is our Phytonutrient Cleanser. Now this one is a little bit richer than the aloe herb cleanser. One of the key ingredients in this one is a mango seed butter, and so the feel of this one takes on this like very fatty consistency. It's very full, very rich. So this is a really nice one for dry skin. The blend of this one, true to the Wild Alchemy line, does address several different signs of aging. one specifically would be the appearance of fine lines. One of the ingredients here is our Signature Serum Blend. It's this aloe vera juice floral kind of steeped combo and it's specifically supporting the appearance of fine lines on the face. So helping to soften the appearance helps to strengthen the skin, helping to slow that down. Making sure you're using this at least 30 seconds on the face, right? Because we want enough time to let that really absorb into the skin. So you're getting the benefits of it. Right. Not just on the face and down the sink, but using this on the face can be helpful to stave those off and slow that down. This is also helpful if you're someone who has uneven skin tone. So if you are working with maybe sun damage or you've had, you know, blemishes or clogged pores or something like that, and there's some darkness left behind. We've got a little bit of apple extract that has just a touch of malic acid that can be helpful to just very gently turn that over. So there is a little bit of activity with this, like it's, it doesn't feel quite as much as a tingle, but it's not like, You know, it's not like something like one of our other products. This one, this is the resurfacing facial exfoliant. That one lights up the face. This one is pretty mild, very gentle, not even necessarily an exfoliant, just gently working on the skin there. But if you are sensitive or prone to sensitivity, a lot of times this one could be a little bit much. If you have combo skin, so maybe skin that's sometimes sensitive prone and sometimes not, it might be one that you alternate in your routine.
So this might be one that you have, and then if you're having a flare up, either temporary redness or something else, you use the aloe herb cleanser. So it might be that you kind of go back and forth with it. But if you are having an active break out, I feel like this one is a little bit intense for your skin.
Now, the two that I've just mentioned, how you use them is pretty straightforward. You wet your fingers, you wet your face. I tend to do like three pumps right on the ends of my fingertips here and then just kind of rub it together and massage it on. Generally, I do both of them in 30 seconds. So wet fingers, wet face, and then, you know, after you've massaged it, you just rinse it. it removes like normal. This next one here, this one is our Restorative Cleansing Oil. At least one person has mentioned dry skin, particularly dry skin, and this is a really supportive one for skin that's really dry, especially the kind of skin that just seems to never be able to get quite enough moisture. It's like always looking for a little bit more support. The Restorative Cleansing Oil can be pretty supportive. for that. Now this is a blend of oils and nothing else, right? So there isn't anything added in this that's going to help it remove fully. A lot of times when you purchase something like a cleansing oil at the drugstore or something, when you rinse it off, it washes clean because it has additional ingredients in it. This is just a blend of oils. And so what we recommend is that you apply this with dry fingers on a dry face. It's a little bit different. This is just a little bit of a deeper penetration, especially for dry skin. All right, so dry fingers on a dry face. And I leave it on for a good 30 seconds, if not longer, before I come in and do anything with it. And then when I am coming in, I'm either massaging, I might be doing like a gua sha routine with this one. It has a really nice slip to it. So doing a gua sha with this cleanser is awesome. Yep, however you're wanting to move that around the face. You can either gently kind of swirl it with your fingers.
Now when you go to remove this one, because it's a blend of oils, Right? If you're splashing water on the face, it's going to leave a little bit behind. And that's by design, right? Because we're helping to support skin that's super, super dry. So if you are really dry, you might just rinse your face and then move on to your next step.
And that might be perfect for you. If you're somebody who's kind of like normal to dry or maybe you just are wanting to try this one, there are other ways to remove it. So you can either use a warm wet washcloth, right, and then just kind of wipe it off, that removes a lot of it. And most of the time you don't need another step. If you're wanting to kind of incorporate another cleanser, you could do something like the phytonutrient or the aloe herb as a subsequent cleanser to remove the excess there. That of course will remove quite a bit more. So if you're using this for dry skin keep that in mind that you are wanting a little bit left behind. So play with it, see what feels best for your skin type you know, and best for your routine. But you've got a couple options for removing that one here. I'll pause here as far as cleansers go.
Grace – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There's one question in the chat just asking how much you, on average, use? Which I think is always a good question to hear.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, so I tend to use about three pumps of any of them. I might use a little bit more of the oil cleanser because my skin isn't damp. There's no slip already on the face, but for the aloe herb cleanser and the Phytonutrient Cleanser, it's about three pumps. I might do four. A little bit goes a long way. It spreads really far. So I'd say three to four. On average. And then a little bit more of the oil cleanser just because the skin's dry. So I might do a full five pumps of that one. Perfect. Thank you for that question. Let's see. Let's get into our next step.
So your next step is your toning mist. Now, what your toning mist does in your Annmarie Skin Care routine is unique to our brand. All of our cleansers are already pH balanced. So they're balanced to the pH of the skin. A lot of times toning mists are incorporated to rebalance the pH of the skin. And that's not necessary with ours. Likewise, we don't have any acids or alcohols in our toning mists. so, a lot of times toning mists on the market will be used to strip the skin or remove a lot of oil. ours are not doing that, at least not in that way. The way ours are working, they're acting as this burst of hydration and this burst of nutrition. And I use the word hydration in the sense of they're helping to support an adequate water level of the lower layers of the skin, right? And so hydration would be kind of like, if your skin's dehydrated lower in the skin than it's lacking water versus moisture, which we use to speak to your fat level, basically of the upper layers of the skin. So we differentiate it a little bit. And the toning mist helps to provide that burst of hydration, which is also supportive when you're using these in conjunction with our serums, because all of our serums contain some variation of a humectant. A humectant seeks out moisture in its environment and pulls it to it and plumps up. So humectants are helpful for helping to plump up the appearance of fine lines. Humectants are also helpful for helping to hydrate skin that's dry. So having this burst of hydration already on the skin, it boosts that hydrating factor of the serums just a little bit further. And then depending on which toning mist you go with, you might be working with the appearance of fine lines, you might be controlling oil, you might be working with sensitive prone skin.
They're all formulated a little bit differently. I'm going to speak about two of them.
The first one is this one here. This is the Neroli Toning Mist.
Now the Neroli Toning Mist is super simple, very light, very nourishing. We've got this anchored in aloe vera juice. And aloe vera juice is just like a light burst of hydration.
It's also very gentle and soothing. I've got another one that's a little bit better for sensitive prone skin, but if you're sensitive prone or like combo or normal skin that can sometimes be sensitive prone, the aloe can be helpful for the occasional sensitivity. The neroli in here, aside from smelling wonderful, is like an orange blossom flower and so it smells like floral citrusy like a beautiful dance. It's very lovely. But the neroli is really supportive for the appearance of fine lines. So misting this on the skin, this just helps to soften the appearance of fine lines, both in the moment with this aloe vera hydration, but also kind of prolonged as that neroli is able to work on the skin. The next one is part of the Wild Alchemy Collection, this one here.
This is the Botanical Hydration Mist with Immortelle. Now for sensitive prone skin customers, this is like the creme de la creme. This is really, really lovely. This one starts with a blend of two hydrosols. Now, a hydrosol, if you aren't familiar, is like, if you're creating an essential oil via steam distillation, a hydrosol is this watery runoff that happens that captures some of that oil, but it's not a full weight, right? So it's very soft. Very, like, buttery feeling, but it's not a full, like, weighty oil kind of feel. It's still very, very light. And the hydrosols that we opted for with this, we went with an Immortelle and a Helichrysum. Both of these are renowned for their anti-aging properties. They're super antioxidant rich, they're super helpful for the appearance of fine lines. Immortelle is sometimes known as Helicursum, but it goes by Immortelle because it's got this legend of being this flower of immortality. So, of course, we wanted to lean into that when we were labeling this. So, Immortelle is what we went with. It's great for dry skin, super nourishing for dry or dehydrated skin. We've got four different types of chamomile in here and then frankincense. So for sensitive prone skin, this is incredibly soothing. This is very helpful for redness, just any kind of flare up. This helps to soothe. Grace, I usually have Grace talk about this one because she has more sensitive prone and temporary redness prone skin, whereas mine's kind of just normal, normal dry. Tell us about this, how much you love this one.
Grace – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: Kate knows how much I love this one, but I always joke around that it's like my little best friend in a spray bottle. I have temporary redness consistently. My skin is also extremely dry no matter what time of the year it is. So I like after a workout, I'll spray it on if I like I was in Idaho this past weekend and like 100 to 105 heat. I was dry. I sprayed it on all the time there. It's just something that's really, really great for not only soothing redness if you're like me, but also just helping that boost of hydration that your skin
needs, whether it's just for a one time use during the day or consistently like morning and night. I just cannot live without it at this point. My skin just drinks it up like nobody's business, so it's amazing. And it smells lovely.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I always love having Grace talk about it because I feel like she just speaks from the heart. Just love it so much. Yeah, I do have, I have several customers who just purchased that one. They have that one on subscription and they might buy another product here or there, but like that's the one that they keep, they regularly keep on hand. And so as it existed, we launched that one in 20 when that was 20, either 2020 or 2021. So it's been around a couple of years. Yeah, it's quite popular for sensitive prone skin. How you use your toning mist. They're also very straightforward. They've got just a little mister on the front here. And so you just, you know, you press it down. You're misting your face. You want enough that your face is damp. But not so much that it's dripping off, right? Then you're just using more than you need. and then from there you can kind of play with whether you let it dry fully and apply your serum or whether you leave skin a little bit damp. I usually leave my skin a little bit damp. It's faster first of all, but it tends to pull things in a little bit of a deeper way. Try both. Let it dry one day and apply your finishing products. Leave it damp one day. See what feels best. But both are really, really lovely options for the skin. With that, I will pause and see what questions have come up. If anything, nothing so far. Okay. Let's move on. Serums, I feel like, are where it gets a little bit wild anyway. Let's think of the needs of this group. Yeah, I think I'm going to talk about all of our serums. We have a fair amount but I'll try to make it as clear as possible.
So, Your serum step, generally speaking in the skincare world and true for our brand, your serum step tends to be a thinner, aqueous consistency so that it's able to penetrate a little bit more deeply into the skin. With that, it tends to kind of be your treatment step. So the step that is working to actively address particular concerns. because the serums are getting in a little bit deeper, they're working both in the moment and then they have ingredients to kind of be changing skin over time. Whereas the facial oils, they both are, they're cumulative too, but they're working to support the nourishment of the upper layers of the skin. Serums tend to have more activated ingredients, maybe a broader blend of ingredients to work on whatever your particular concern is.
Now the first one we'll get into is our very classic Anti-Aging Serum.
And you'll see that we have it in two sizes here. We launched the larger size two years ago, because we were observing that the small size had a high purchase rate, which was lovely news, but it also had a high repurchase rate. So that was an indication to us that it was well loved.
It was doing what customers were wanting. And so they were investing in it time over time. So we wanted to be able to offer an option that was a little bit more cost effective and of course a little bit more sustainable. The Anti-Aging Serum, the blend of this, One of the key ingredients in here is hyaluronic acid and hyaluronic acid is a humectant And so this ingredient seeks out the moisture and plumps skin up Hyaluronic acid is a quick turnaround for plumping skin, plumping the appearance of fine lines just kind of lackluster, sagging, all of that hyaluronic acid is a really quick fix. And so I think part of the popularity of this product is because in a very short amount of time, people notice a difference with their skin just in how plump and full it looks. It also has this really lovely floral blend. And we've got Idyllwyce, we've got Life Everlasting, Rose is a big component in this one as well. And all of these are super supportive for the strength of the skin and also for staving off the appearance of fine lines. The scent of this one smells a lot like the rose. The rose is a pretty key component in the scent makeup of this. Still pretty light I think, yeah, most of these are on the light side, Not too polarizing. That one's really good for dry skin types. Really good for aging skin. So dry, mature, aging. sensitive prones can use it. I've got a couple ones that are a little bit more focused for soothing sensitive prone skin, but if you have sensitive prone skin, it's not exacerbating sensitivity. It's still gentle in the way that it's working with the skin.
Now the next one, this is our Citrus Stem Cell Serum. And this is working to support the skin in two major ways. The first one is with the stem cell component. Stem cells, the way those work is they kind of sink into lower layers of the skin.Your skin cells mimic the behavior of stem cells, right? And so a strong, full, healthy stem cell, your skin kind of emulates the vibrancy, the fullness, the health of that. And so when that's moving up to the surface, you tend to see a difference in the elasticity of the skin stem cells can be super supportive for skin that's starting to droop or starting to sag.Especially if you're using this and have a gua sha step in your routine. Stem cells can be helpful for deeper, like, lines, deeper creases on the face. The other side of this is the brightening component. So we have uva ursi, we have licorice root, we have amla berry in here, and the three of these are very targeted skin brighteners.
Uva Ursi, Licorice Root, Amla Berry, these work with pigmentation. They work with melanin in the skin to help to quiet that down. Now with both the stem cells and the Uva Ursi, it takes a little bit of time for you to start to see a difference.
Because these are working on the lower layers of the skin and then that skin cells are moving up to the surface. It can take a little bit of time for that to fully Turn around and then you are seeing the difference. And I call that out just to set realistic expectations because it could be a good four to six weeks for you to notice a difference in the skin using a product like the citrus stem cell serum. So just something to keep in mind. The scent of this one is pretty. It smells like citrus, as the name suggests, it just smells a lot like the orange. And it probably goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway all of our stem cells are plant derived. This one in particular is an orange peel derived stem cell.
It'll vary as to whether it's like a Madonna lily stem cell or it could be another citrus stem cell. They're all plant derived stem cells, so we don't have any. bovine or other Stem cells in our products now this next one.
This is the Probiotic Serum with Tremella This one is just absolutely lovely for super sensitive prone skin The blend of this includes both a probiotic complex And an olive leaf ferment and the two of those are designed to be nourishing the good bacteria on the face So your face, kind of like your gut, you know, it's like your entire body has this natural flora to it, it's own kind of microbiome.
And so when we're supporting the good bacteria, it can help bring skin into a balanced state. And that could be, you know, maybe if you're prone to temporary redness sensitivity flare ups, rashes skin can be thrown off, this is primarily focused on soothing the skin so calming down reactivity and bringing it back into a balanced place. This one also like the name suggests, has the tremella mushroom in it. And the tremella mushroom functions quite similarly to a hyaluronic acid. So it's a humectant, pulls moisture, plumps up, all of that.
So this one, again, for sensitive prone skin, for dry skin reaction prone skin, this is a really, really nice one to have on hand. And for this one, sometimes this one is like a stopgap. So this might be the one that you're using until you feel like skin has kind of found a balanced place, and then you're moving on to another serum, and you might just use this one when you have a flare up or this is the one that you just keep on hand.
This is your go to. This is what you regularly use, so. Things to keep in mind with that one.
Now those three were part of our Signature Collection. These next three are part of the wild alchemy collection here. The first one being this one. This is our Wild Fruit Serum. This is another one that's quite popular.
We were preparing to launch it in a larger size. I think another launch kind of took priority over that, but it's one that we're noticing a high repurchase rate with this one. For a good reason. This one hits a lot of different signs of aging. It addresses signs of aging from a lot of different angles. We have hyaluronic acid in here, right? So this is helping to plump up the skin in a pretty quick and easy manner. We have stem cells here. So these are the Madonna Lily stem cells. So again, this is helping to strengthen skin, helping if you're drooping or sagging in the skin. The Wild Fruit Serum also has Uva Ursi, and Uva Ursi is working to brighten specific spots on the face. This also has an ingredient called Kakadu Plum, and Kakadu Plum is very vitamin C rich, and so you get both the brightening from the Uva Ursi, But then also this overall tone corrects with the vitamin C from the Kakadu Plum. So the overall effect of this is kind of this broad swoop of signs of aging, working on different signs of aging.
It's still quite mild, very gentle. None of these that I've mentioned so far have any activity with them. They just are gently working with the skin. The scent of this one smells a lot like the plum. That kakadu plum. So it just smells like fruit, smells like a nice little wild fruit, which is of course where the name comes from wild fruit serum.
The next one is our Activated CBD Serum.
First of all we're using CBD and we're using two types of CBD. We use a water soluble and a fat soluble. That is unique to this product. I've not seen another serum that uses both, which is cool because you're getting this immediate absorption with the water soluble, but then you're getting kind of the sweet slow release with the fat soluble. So it's like it's working both in the moment and then kind of working over time with that fat soluble there. CBD is a really interesting skincare ingredient because CBD works with your body's own endocannabinoid system which essentially works as kind of like an internal triage. So when you support it with CBD, really any cannabinoid, but CBD topically, it tends to go where areas are starting to break down where things are starting to slow down. This could be a breakdown of collagen and elastin. This could be active, flare ups or reactivity or irritation. the appearance of fine lines where that's starting to, skin's starting to break down a little bit. It can go in a lot of different directions, which is cool. But it also makes it hard to mark it because it can support skin from so many different angles. It's not like an uber earthy thing that has like, A specific thing that it's working on. generally CBD works with a lot of concerns for irritated skin, sensitive prone skin. It can even be breakout prone and aging super supportive for aging skin. We've got the CBD in there. hitting a lot of different angles, but then the greater blend of this product, it's super, super rich. It's a very full serum. Whereas the others, they're kind of thinner. If I put one in my hand, they'll run down my hand a little bit. This one, if I pump it on my hand, it just kind of stays. It's pretty full, full bodied. And so it's got a lot of hydrators. So that lends itself really nicely to aging skin and to dry skin. we've got a lot of the anti agers in here. We've got superoxide dismutase, we have astaxanthin, we have black cumin seed and several others. There's a lot of seeds in here that are really focused on staving off and reversing the appearance of science and aging.
Now, a couple of things about this one. When you go to shop for this one, it's going to take you to its own site. And that is. by design, we are only able to legally retail this in the U S by purchasing it through that separate site.
Another thing if you are joining us anywhere internationally, the most common, of course, is Canada. We can't sell this to you. We aren't able to ship this over our borders at this point. Most other countries don't receive it, so it is just the U. S. only. Now, I have had some customers who will ship it to a friend, or their business office if they work close to the border, and get it over the border that way, but at this point we aren't able to send it.
No, everything that I've mentioned so far, you can use it in the morning, you could use it in the evening, you know, interchangeably. I don't typically recommend mixing the serums, right? I wouldn't necessarily suggest doing a pump of one and a pump of the other and mixing it. If you have two major concerns, I would prefer you, Either patch it, apply it, or do one in the morning and one in the evening. So alternate. Now the next one, this last one here the Activated Night Serum. This one is for nighttime use only. For a couple reasons. So the primary reason is because the key ingredient here is our bioactive A complex. And this bioactive A complex is a wild ingredient, we call it our retinol alternative because it functions very similarly to retinol. It's just working in a way that's working synergistically with the body, it's not tearing the body, it's not tearing the skin down like retinol can and does. It is still exfoliating, though, and it does still increase photosensitivity. And so, we recommend it overnight. If you are going to be exposed to the sun the next day, we recommend your sunlove, any type of clean sunscreen to protect the skin.
We also recommend, like, exercise caution. If you know you've got, like, a full pool day the next day, maybe you don't apply it the night before. Take a night off. Something like that. Because it does exfoliate the skin.
We also have it in this really lovely suspension. So it's designed to be exfoliated and then immediately nourished by the rest of the product. We have both hyaluronic acid and tremella mushrooms here. We've got very supportive antioxidants in this blend as well, so it's very creamy, very soft. I have yet to work with someone who experiences any flaking or dryness as a result of this product. There might be, so my skin for example, I can use this about three nights in a row and then I take a couple nights off. So, Some people will do something like that. They might alternate nights. So like one night on, one night off. I do about three nights on and then the rest of the week off. You might be able to use it every night. I have a lot of customers and a lot of the team internally use it nightly and they have no issue with it. I think my skin's just on the sensitive prone edge enough that it gets a little bit tender after a few days. So. Yeah, so this, you know, the feel of that one, it's a very, it's a great one to have in your routine if aging is a concern. Just kind of where you would slip in a retinol, this is doing that, and then a little bit more with the rest of the product. And another cool thing that's happening with this one right now, Any purchase of this enters you into our sweepstakes this summer. We have summer sweepstakes going. It Ends at the end of August. So you do have a little bit of time, but any purchase enters you into this drawing. And the prizes are also really cool. Your grand prize is a year's worth of unlimited free skincare, something like that. It's a pretty big prize. And then our second place winners. Normally we choose three. This year we're choosing 15 for our anniversary because we're just so excited about our anniversary. So your odds of winning are just that much higher. there's no action required other than purchasing it. If you purchase that, then you're automatically entered into that sweepstakes. So, any questions about the serums? I know this can be quite a bit more info than maybe the other product.
Grace – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There is one in the chat asking if you could use the CBD serum on arms and leg spots as well.
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah, you absolutely can. It's a high price point, so I'd be mindful of like, you know, if you feel comfortable using it throughout the body, but it can be used anywhere on the body.
Not internally, not that that's what this was alluding to, but anywhere topically on the body, this can be used quite comfortably. Yeah, I've used it for like a sunburn or I have like a what is it, an oak, I think, which obviously, right, we're not diagnosing, we don't recommend a treatment covering my bases with that, but I have used it for you know, like a rash or irritation and it's been supportive for helping to soothe that.
Grace – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: One more in the chat asking how much to use a serum?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: I typically will do three ish pumps in the palm of my hand, and then I'll take my ring or middle finger And then just kind of disperse it, right? So I'll do, pat my finger, do cheek, cheek, forehead, get a little bit more, chin, nose. And by doing that, I use quite a bit less. I also leave my skin damp from my toning mist, so there's already a little bit of slip. But distributing it, I don't use quite as much and, and it covers the face. And then from there I just kind of like gently sweep it into the face in upward motions. There's not that much science. I'm sure you could do a full facial massage or something if you wanted to, but I don't take the time to do that.
In the morning I usually just swipe it on and then come in with my oil pretty much immediately after while skin is still damp. But you can allow skin to dry in between and that's perfectly fine as well. I'll let you look into them if you're interested, but when I pump my serum into my hand, I'll do one or two drops of a booster and mix it in and then apply it. So something to keep in mind. Perfect. Grace, any other questions in the chat? No, cool. Let's move on to oils. So we use facial oil as our moisturizer.
Now we aren't opposed to creams, so, although we've, like, danced with pretty versions, just nothing quite lasts or it separates. We feel good about what we're working on, but for now, we've still got the facial oils and the facial oils are supported for the skin also in that your body recognizes oil as a form of moisture. Your face produces oil naturally, either a smaller amount or it has slowed down or a large amount if you're on the oilier side. There is oil that's happening there. If there wasn't, you would know your skin would. like basically flaking off constantly and so Using an oil especially a clean oil like ours your body recognizes what to do with it. It knows how to integrate an oil as a form of moisture. So the couple thatIi'll talk about these are primarily for dry skin But do know that we've got some for normal skin. We've got some for oily skin. I'll also talk about one for sensitive prone skin!
This is our Anti-Aging Facial Oil, and this one is so widely loved. It's actually one of our first products. We've had this one for a long time, and so I think part of the popularity is also that people have used it for a long time.
The formula has changed since then. Slightly over the years, but not to a great degree. And so it's pretty widely loved. Now this one starts with a jojoba oil. And with all of our oils, what we do is we start with an anchor oil, and then we steep that oil with herbs or seeds or Plants or CO2 extracts, like whatever we're crafting, they get steeped into this oil at a low heat. So we maintain nutritional consistency. We don't push anything into a rancid, you know, that it doesn't go over 91 degrees. So everything stays perfectly balanced and then it gets strained and packaged and all of that. So with the anti aging facial oil, we start with a golden organic jojoba oil and jojoba oil is awesome for skin that's dry because it mimics skin's natural oil really closely in weight and kind of volume and body and all of that.
So when you're dry and you apply this, your skin kind of quickly adjusts to like, integrating this if you're dry on the dry side. And then we've steeped into this, we have broccoli seed, we have chia seed, we have goji berry, what else is in here, plantain, all of these plants and seeds to nourish the skin and strengthen the skin. So this one is Awesome for the appearance of fine lines. This one is awesome for kind of sallow sagging like lackluster skin. This is a really, really nice one. And just like with the Restorative Cleansing Oil. You can also do a Gua Sha step here if you were doing, you know, if you're incorporating your Gua Sha. Super helpful for your lymphatic system, but also helpful for training the fascia of the face. I won't go into a routine because there simply just isn't enough time. But if you look on the product pages for these, they have little either links to routines or there's one like a video that will play. But yeah, this anti-aging facial oil is awesome for dry skin, awesome for aging skin. This one is the richest one that we've got right now. So if you are someone who mentioned that your skin was super dry and that was a big concern this is probably the one you're going to go with.
This one is, yeah, just feels really full, really delicious, just really, really lovely. The next one I'll mention is our skin care. Where are you? Herbal Facial Oil for Sensitive Skin.
Now, this one is a touch lighter. It starts with a grapeseed oil versus a jojoba oil. And that lighter one, that lighter feel just absorbs a little bit more with ease in some cases. This one also has herbs steeped into it. Sacha Inchi, camellia seed. Calendula to help to soothe skin that gets irritated. So if you're sensitive prone, this can be a good one to have on hand. Even if you don't use it every night or this isn't your regular, just when you're experiencing a flare up, the herbal facial oil for sensitive prone skin is quite a good one. And I will say especially if you're new and investing in these in a big chunk, having this one as an option to alternate the price one on this one is quite a bit lower than the others. They range from the 60s to all the way to 170. so having this one to either alternate or slip in the routine, it can help to extend the life of that and just help to sustain your pocketbook a little bit more.
Now this one, this is our wild alchemy one. This one is quite top tier. This is our Rejuvenating Facial Oil and I am a huge fan of this one. We always talk about how if you left the company, what would be the one product you would still buy? And I think I would pinch my pennies together to get this one. Because It works. And also, I know the formulation process is different. So, with this one, whereas the others, we steeped them and strained them and bottled them. We still did the steeping and straining with this one, but then what we did was we added active ingredients into the blend directly. So we have butterfly pea flowers, we have blue tansy, and we have black cumin seed. What else is in here? These very potent mangongo seeds, very potent skin soothers, skin softeners, anti agers. These are really helpful, just a super quick fix for the appearance of fine lines and for softening the texture of the skin. Yeah, my experience has been pretty quick overnight, but it might take a little bit longer for some other skin types out there. So the price point is higher on this one, but it definitely is a reflection of the quality and the ingredients that are selected in this one. It's a little bit less. moisturizing than anti-aging. It still starts with the golden jojoba but because we then added some ingredients into the final blend it's thinned slightly and so if dryness is your major concern you might still use the anti aging. If Aging is a bigger concern than the dryness, then you're probably going to go with this one, and this is going to be the one that you use. Or you might opt for both and alternate, or do this one and one of the herbal facial oils and alternate something like that to, yeah, to be able to use this one to support signs of aging.
Now one more product I'll mention with our oils here. This is actually our sun product. This is our Sun Love, but I like to mention it with the oils because certain skin types can actually use this as their moisturizer in the morning. It tends to be more normal, maybe normal to dry, definitely normal to oily it Can vary, but if you're drier, you likely will still use your oil in the morning, But if your skin's normal, this one can work as your morning moisturizer. This is a lovely sunscreen product for a lot of reasons. It's a super clean sunscreen, which is hard to find. This is mineral based. We use a non nano zinc oxide, which means this isn't penetrating into the bloodstream at all. We used a ratio such that the formulation is still quite sheer, which was honestly quite a celebration when We landed on this formula because zinc oxide has this reputation for being white, chalky, and gloppy. I will warn you when you first apply it, there is a little bit of a white cast, but within the first three minutes, maybe five minutes, it evens out so nicely. I've got it on today. It doesn't look like I've got a super white cast. complexion, like it doesn't reflect the light in such a dramatic way that a lot of zinc or clean sunscreens will tend to do. So we actually did label this the everyday sheer sunscreen. It's a reef safe sunscreen, so even if you don't live right by the ocean, anytime this gets rinsed down the sink, this is still supporting the ecosystem of the ocean. Very antioxidant rich. It's actually a very rich and kind of emollient product. It's got pumpkin seed, broody fruit oil, and a couple other seed oils in here. And I do want to call out when we are using any kind of seed or seed oil, we're either using the whole seed and it's being steeped, or we're using expeller press or cold press. We don't use any seed oils that have been heated prior to our craft process. So that is the sunscreen. Great for really any Sun exposure, just like with any other sunscreen, depending on your complexion, you might reapply every few hours, you might reapply every four to six hours. It is not waterproof, which I like to name because if you are swimming, once you submerge yourself, you will lose some of that coverage.
And so, It's part of that. It's just because we weren't able to find a clean ingredient that would bind it to the skin. So if you are in that instance either make sure to reapply quickly or opt for a sunscreen that supports that activity a little bit better. So let's pause here. I still want to talk about masks and it looks like we're good on time, but I want to see what questions might have come up for us.
Anything? Grace, chat looks good. Sweet. But let's move along a little bit. Let's talk about a couple more products. Someone had asked specifically about masks, and so I think I'll mention three. Now, our masks, how frequently you can use them, will kind of depend on the mask that we're looking at. Most of them can be used, actually all of them can be used at least once a week. The first one I'll mention is this one. So even for dry skin types, this is a pretty, pretty nourishing one. This is our Charcoal Cacao Mask. It is black. I'll show you the inside. I don't know how well you can see. It's, mine's kind of dried out, but also so you're able to see, like, if you're investing in this one, just be super cautious of your linens and your bathroom and all of that, because it is a very dark product when you rinse it off. I mean, I almost always say, like, get in the shower if you can. But this is a really supportive one for skin that's starting to see signs of aging and skin that might need some sort of detoxification. We have some skin soothers. Cacao is a very potent skin soother. We've also got turmeric in here. And then the charcoal is pretty detoxifying, so this can be pulling things up to the surface. Most people don't experience a detox breakout but occasionally someone will, and it's usually in the areas where skin is really thin, so it might be around the nose, or around the lip, or on the sides of the mouth where skin's just a little bit thinner, more prone to reactive type clogged pores so that can happen, but they're usually pretty small whiteheads and gone within the next couple days. So this one, this is a nice, nice option here.
The next one I'll mention is the Coconut Honey Mask.
I'll show you the inside of that one. You can see it's pretty simple. This is actually a really simple blend. As the name suggests, coconut oil, wildflower honey, there's a little bit of beeswax, and a little bit of vanilla in here. And then the next question always is, can you eat it? People ask that all the time. Which technically, you could consume any of these they're, you know, we don't recommend it.
This one's probably okay, but a lot of these have essential oils in them, which we don't recommend. The honey can sometimes crystallize when it's cooler out. And so it can almost act as a lip scrub on the lips. But it's just a very nourishing face mask. This is great for skin types that are dry reactive, all of those. This is one that I'll recommend if I'm working with someone who likes post laser treatment, or if they seek out more aggressive chemical peels, or if they're temporary redness prone, like this one is just a very nourishing, super hydrating, nice and calming mask.
So the next one, this is our Illuminating Pearl Mask here. And I'll show you the look of that one. It's kind of gray. The colors of this one can range from like a light pearly to like a purpley to like this gray color. And with all of our products, just to quickly insert the colors can vary from batch to batch because we're using wild grown ingredients for a lot of the products. Color variation is normal. Well, if you're concerned about rancidity, we always say check smell, check consistency, and patch test. Don't put it on your whole face. But this one, mine's a little gray and that's normal. This is a really, really awesome one for pretty much any skin type. Super helpful for sensitive prone skin, super helpful for dry skin. Also really helpful for skin that has either uneven skin tone, things like that. We've got licorice root. This can be very helpful for anybody who's like breakout prone or having any kind of like off kilter skin concern.
But kind of the star ingredient And this one is the Crushed Pearl Powder. And the Crushed Pearl Powder, you, you know, you apply this mask, when you rinse it off, skin has this gorgeous glow to it. And it's so natural looking, because it's not like it leaves behind, like, any kind of glittery build up or anything. It just is really radiant. And so this is one that I recommend a lot if somebody's got, like, family pictures, or they're going to a reunion, or What else? They're just going to see people. This is one that I feel like the sales around the holiday uptick quite a bit. It also is helpful for dry skin, so that could be part of it too, but this is a quite, quite popular one. And how you apply any of these. I have one on my desk, like spoons, and they're free. So when you're shopping it pops up as an add on. Usually we recommend getting something like that because then you can scoop it out without having to use your fingers. But even if you don't use one of ours, just like a simple little scoop and then making sure to clean it in between is perfect. This one I don't find it gets too reactive. The charcoal cacao, though, is sensitive prone. Make sure if you don't have a spoon that you're washing your hands because of bacterial exposure, this one will mold quickly if we're not keeping it nice and clean. The other ones are pretty chill. It's a good rule of thumb, but that one, you keep it in mind with that one. And then the Illuminine Pearl. Yeah, and then you apply it to the face. Now, the charcoal cacao dries, and it kind of dries, and like, dries a little bit taut. Once you rinse it though, it feels so soft, super smooth, very mineralized. The coconut honey and the illuminating pearl, they stay nice and dewy. they'll absorb a little bit, and then the honey kind of sticks on the surface, so it gets a little bit sticky. So sometimes people will ask if you can wear them overnight and in all technicality you can. Those can be worn at great length. They don't, they don't irritate the skin. They aren't activating the skin. So you could put it on and leave it on all day. But overnight it gets a little bit sticky. So it'll kind of mess with your pillowcase and your blankets. So It's up to you but most people end up not because of that, because it messes with the blankies and things. Questions about masks?
Grace – Annmarie Skin Care Marketing Assistant: There was one in the chat on how do you use it with a bowl and brush, and this was actually when we were talking about the aluminum pearl mask,
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Yeah. So for that one, the mask, the bowling brush is really cool because you can kind of get a little bit creative. We actually just had a call last week, which was a live call where we did something like make your own mask, where we use one of our masks and then we might mix something into it. For the sake of that call, I think we all ended up mixing in colostrum. It's like a powdered colostrum, but you can go in a lot of different directions. So at the most basic level, you would scoop a little bit into the bowl. Right out of the mask, and then use your fan brush, you wet your fan brush first. This step gets missed, but it'll help it apply so much easier. Wet your fan brush, shake a little bit off, and then apply your mask. You just brush it onto the face.
If you're wanting to get a little bit creative, in that bowl, you could mix something like a concentrated boosting elixir into it, so a couple drops of one of those. You could mix Another mask. So a really popular one is the Purifying Mud Mask. No, it's not too full. This is just loose, dry clay. So let's say you have like a couple areas that are breakout prone or need some detoxification, but you also want the brightness of the illuminating pearl. You might do the illuminating pearl and then maybe like a small scoop of the purifying mud mask. Depending on your skin type, you could mix in something that's more hydrating. You might add extra honey. Some people will mix in like a toning mist. We did powdered colostrum, which is just a really nourishing brightening add in. using the bowl and the brush is also a way to kind of do like a little bit of a create your own. I've worked with people who will use yogurt or like a banana, like they'll mash up a banana. And mix it into the mask. So you can get a little bit wild. You can get creative. We love kind of merging the skincare kitchen world. So, you know, going that direction is quite lovely. But at its most basic, you would just scoop a little bit into the bowl and wet your brush and then use your fan brush to apply.
If you've got the space and the time, it's really nice to bring everything down onto the neck. If nothing else, your sunscreen, but masks also are pretty, they pack a pretty quick punch in working on the neck area. So keep that in mind too. Perfect. Grace, any other questions in the chat?
Kate – Annmarie Skin Care In-House Esthetician: Okay. Well, if there aren't other questions, I think we're good to go. You guys have our customer support, so give us a holler if you need anything, but otherwise we'll let you go and happy shopping!
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